Carney Declines to Call Taliban a 'Terrorist' Group

Monday at the White House press briefing, press secretary Jay Carney refused to call the Taliban a terrorist group when prompted by CBS Radio’s White House Correspondent Mark Knoller.

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KNOLLER: Does the U.S. still regard the Taliban as a terrorist group?

CARNEY: We regard the Taliban as an enemy combatant in a conflict that has been going on, and in which the United States has been involved for more than a decade.

The administration is under fire for trading five Taliban terrorists for POW U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who the Taliban had held hostage since 2009. Two of the freed terrorists, Mullah Mohammad Fazl, Taliban army chief of staff and Mullah Norullah Noori a senior Taliban military commander, are both wanted by the UN for war crimes including the murder of thousands of Shiites.